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Re. FM2013 on Intel graphics, FM2012 works fine on the two laptops with Intel graphics that I have access to (HP and Toshiba, both from c. 2010), so unless the graphics in FM2013 are very different, you should be OK. Disclaimer - I haven't done much research on 2013.

"Harry uses the One Ring to defeat Magneto and save the Rebellion!"With thanks to RaveTurned in comments on the main page.

Zigfrak looks like a space sim but it's actually a single player mmorpg with hotbars and "kill 3 rats" style quests. Didn't have much fun with that one.

Drox operative is a decent offering from Soldak and a bit of a reskin of his usual. Nowhere close to Diablo 2 though. Only game I really enjoyed from Soldak was Kivi's Underworld and that was because of what it did differently from Diablo since everything else about it is worse.

alset85 seems to have missed everything which is amazing about Soldak's games (because Kivi has the least of it)

Soldak's games are ARPGs but the world in which they're set is dynamic and stuff happens whether you're there to see/do it or not. People come and go from your town, events happen in the world which you can stop and if you don't stop them they can have knock-on effects on your town/the world. Enemies in dungeons will attack and take-over bits of those dungeons and even move into your town if unchecked - and other factions in your town/sector can ally against you and allsorts. It can be dizzying at times - stuff even happens whilst you're not playing ;)

Drox uses all of that to create a dynamic shifting universe where factions and alliances are happening around you - you choose to who side and support and can find half the game turning against you or whatever - but at it's core it's an ARPG with missions to kill/fetch/escort/find trade and loads of LOOT to spec your ship with.

Zigfrak is - well it's a mean description perhaps but yes, it has an element of "single player MMO" about it but then so does Diablo and Titans Quest and so on. What I liked about Zigfrak is the music, the ship controls and the atmosphere/writing - as well as the massive amounts of loot - it just feels like someone's labour of love and that it's their first game is even more astonishing.

If you compare it to something like Dawnstar which tries to do the same but comes off rather worse being buggy and glitchy and lacking polish.

Drox has a demo so you can try it yourself - as does Zigfrak I think - I love em both

The basis for the dynamism in Drox was laid out in Depths of Peril and Din's Curse and very very rarely something cool and "emergent" happens. Otherwise it's all inconsequential. Also the loot is boring in all of them and Kivi's was better since it didn't have loot at all. In any case the reason I don't like them very much is the feel of the combat which hasn't gotten any better after 4 games. When diablo did it so well, and Dust: an Elysian Tale proved you don't need a huge budget to make really good combat, that's disgraceful.

I posted this in the space 4x thread, but will reproduce it here on the off chance anyone is interested. The entire Distant Worlds franchise is $70 (including the new expansioN) until July 5th over on Matrix. Granted, by modern game sales standard that's not much of a bargain, but it is a pretty amazing game.

For newcomers we have an amazing bundle offer. Get the entire Distant Worlds series and all its expansions for just $69.96! To get the bundle just add any Distant Worlds title to your cart and the bundle will be offered to you. That’s a saving of nearly 40% off the base price!
If that’s just too much content for you, we’re also dropping the base game to just $19.99 and all expansion will be sold separately for just $19.99! if you purchase Return of the Shakturi or Legends as part of the bundle, they are available for only $14.99! That’s a savings of up to 50% off the base price!As an added bonus to existing Distant Worlds fans, through the duration of the sale Distant Worlds – Shadows will be priced at $19,99, $5 off the regular price, or the same discount given to newcomers to the series who take advantage of our bundle discount.

Question: how expansive are the cities in Assassin's Creed III (Steam Daily Sale) in comparison to the earlier games in the series?

IGN wrote that "in previous games, it was all about the big cities, but Assassin’s Creed III focuses on shorter, more underdeveloped areas." Generally speaking that'd be fine, after all cities like Acre and Constantinople were already ancient in their day whereas European North American settlements certainly weren't, but I wouldn't really be too keen on seeing cities the size of a few streets and a market square.

"He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to
the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free". ~ Luke 4:18

There are two cities (New York and Boston) which are certainly more than a few streets and a market square, but admittedly aren't on the scale of Rome or Constantinople - at a guess I'd say New York (the bigger of the two) is maybe between a third and a half of the size of Rome in Brotherhood? They don't seem to have as much character, though, as their ancient counterparts. Perhaps understandable, given the age difference, and you do still get a good playground to cause mayhem within.

The wilderness between the two is nice, although I do prefer the urban environment.

I think all in all, AC3 is about 3 times the size of Rome, maybe more. The wilderness is a shitload of land (about 1.5 times Rome IIRC), but that's about it. It's quite empty, but is a nice contrast from time to time. The cities don't offer much in way of variation, but there's plenty to do.

the boats were surprisingly fun, but I can't recommend AC3. The cities aren't as fun to parkour in, the wilderness is pretty but even less fun to parkour in, the main character is dull as dishwater, there's very, very little grey in the independence war conflict (it's evil templars trying to subvert the gawd bless murica) and I just had no motivation to finish it. They bloated the 'build your settlement' up from a little diversion with easily visible results in AC:B to an awkward, unwieldy, time consuming and un-fun trading system that they explain PHENOMENALLY poorly and even then what growth you cause is barely visible because your settlement is a growing village spread across a pretty large area. 'Oh, that's a new house' is about all you get.

Did I mention the main character is dull as fuck? He's um heap big stereotype MAX HONOUR MAX JUSTICE MAX FREEDOM with a spirit quest twist. Gross. Boring.

the boats were surprisingly fun, but I can't recommend AC3. The cities aren't as fun to parkour in, the wilderness is pretty but even less fun to parkour in, the main character is dull as dishwater, there's very, very little grey in the independence war conflict (it's evil templars trying to subvert the gawd bless murica) and I just had no motivation to finish it. They bloated the 'build your settlement' up from a little diversion with easily visible results in AC:B to an awkward, unwieldy, time consuming and un-fun trading system that they explain PHENOMENALLY poorly and even then what growth you cause is barely visible because your settlement is a growing village spread across a pretty large area. 'Oh, that's a new house' is about all you get.

Did I mention the main character is dull as fuck? He's um heap big stereotype MAX HONOUR MAX JUSTICE MAX FREEDOM with a spirit quest twist. Gross. Boring.

I think I had more fun reading this than I ever would playing another Arseassin's Creed.

the boats were surprisingly fun, but I can't recommend AC3. The cities aren't as fun to parkour in, the wilderness is pretty but even less fun to parkour in, the main character is dull as dishwater, there's very, very little grey in the independence war conflict (it's evil templars trying to subvert the gawd bless murica) and I just had no motivation to finish it. They bloated the 'build your settlement' up from a little diversion with easily visible results in AC:B to an awkward, unwieldy, time consuming and un-fun trading system that they explain PHENOMENALLY poorly and even then what growth you cause is barely visible because your settlement is a growing village spread across a pretty large area. 'Oh, that's a new house' is about all you get.

Did I mention the main character is dull as fuck? He's um heap big stereotype MAX HONOUR MAX JUSTICE MAX FREEDOM with a spirit quest twist. Gross. Boring.

To provide a counter argument:

The naval combat is definitely the best part of the game.
The cities are pretty fun to parkour in, but the wilderness is pure hell. The thing is, the parkour is different in 3. In 1 and the 2s, it was about staying on the roofs. In 3, it is about switching to the street briefly before rapidly climbing back up to the roofs, making for a much more varied experience.

Also, if you play through the campaign, the plot is a bit more nuanced. Neither the Assassins nore the Templars are purely on one side or another, and both are actually trying to subvert the revolution to their own ends. In fact, I would say this is the most morally grey AC yet

And I actually found the settlement to be quite fun since it consisted almost entirely of doing side quests (that were actually somewhat varied). I never really bothered with trading caravans and instead just relied on looting chests and british caravans to get the cash I needed to craft. The assassins and naval missions are also good for a boost of cash.

That being said: I used to think Altair was annoying and boring. I would rather play four straight games as Altair than spend even another hour with Connor (although, I'll probably do the DLC anyway). Jesus god damned Christ Connor is boring as hell. And REALLY unlikable. Altair was an arrogant dick but at least he had a personality.
Of course, it also isn't entirely Ubi's fault that Connor is so unlikable. Say what you will about too many Ezio games, but Ezio was a fun protagonist. He started off as an arrogant and brash child and actually matured over the course of those games. And even when he became more mature in the later games, he still had the air of "Ezio does this because someone needs to stop the Templars. But he has fun doing it" rather than "Rawr, me boring as crap. Oh well, time to go on random revenge spree"

Gameplay wise, it definitely has its moments. Story-wise: I actually REALLY liked the Desmond story and think it is worth playing for that, if you have been following the series. I just wish we could have gotten this part of Desmond's story with Ezio or even Altair.

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